I think you're unto something. Totally anecdotal, but my father owns around ~10 houses and small apartment buildings in Canada. I think he managed to acquire th

I think you're unto something. Totally anecdotal, but my father owns around ~10 houses and small apartment buildings in Canada. I think he managed to acquire them all through mortgage refinancing or something like that I really have no idea. He rents the properties to people. Even though he's a hard worker, he has a normal 9-5 job and his income is pretty standard for a salaried worker. Knowing him, I'm sure he didn't come up with the idea himself, so I bet this is a relatively common thing to do for mid to high income baby-boomers. I could be totally off base here, but I can see that if most people have the leverage to own 10 houses in Canada through some financial instruments with the banks this could lead to a housing bubble.